


Chat Noir Fan Club President

by iamnotafraidofspiders



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I just took season one and kinda ran with it, Marinette is Down Bad, Mutual Pining, also lots and lots of canon divergence, kind of?, reverse love square, they're both really oblivious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 01:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30114972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamnotafraidofspiders/pseuds/iamnotafraidofspiders
Summary: Ladybug is strong, proud, and immune to Chat Noir’s flirtations. But in reality, it’s all an act. The second her mask comes off, she becomes Marinette Dupain-Cheng: renowned Chat Noir fan and devotee. Even Alya is frankly disturbed by the sheer number of posters lining her bedroom walls.(Basically, Marinette is in love with Chat Noir but does everything to hide it when she puts on the mask.)
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 15
Kudos: 65





	Chat Noir Fan Club President

**Author's Note:**

> hello everyone!! welcome to my first miraculous fanfic!! I know I have that one super long Persona fic in progress but I swear I'm working on it, and in the meanwhile here is a dump of this ML idea I've been holding on to for ages. I'm not super into the fandom but I was really into the show during season 1 and this is kind of the result. Sorry about the serious lack of canon rep (I don't know how to write the new characters either) but I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> Let me know what you think with a comment if you're feeling particularly generous :)))

“Girl, would you let it go?” Alya said. “I know this is a limited edition copy, but is Craigslist really the  _ only place  _ you can find this thing?”

Mari turned her big blue eyes on her best friend. “This one’s the best life scale poster on the market,” she said. “There’s no way I can let a chance like this go.”

“Okay, but you’re not going alone. I’m not leaving you alone with...who is this? ‘ _ Toothfairy45’ _ ? Jesus Christ they’re going to kidnap you and steal all your teeth—“

“Relax, Alya. I can take care of myself. Besides,” A glint appeared in her eyes, “there’s no way I’m going to let them hog a poster like that, in  _ mint  _ condition no less. It would be a crime for it not to be displayed!”

Alya laughed. “Sometimes I really wonder. You take the levels of fangirling so far...is it really just because he saved you that one time?”

“That was it...at first. But he’s only become even stronger and more heroic over time.” Marinette sighed and looked past Alya dreamily. “He’s really just--”

“Oookay, no, we’re not going on another one of these tirades again. Besides, I thought you liked Ladybug too.”

“Ladybug is great! I-Of course I love Ladybug! You know, Lady blog and everything.” She stuttered quickly, trying not to give herself away. “But Chat Noir is…”

Okay, yes. She was a Chat Noir fangirl. Probably the biggest one in all of Paris, in fact. (She’d been challenged before, but no one could seem to top her when it came to her seemingly endless knowledge of Chat Noir’s preferences and pick up lines.) He debuted as a superhero about two weeks before she’d gotten her own Miraculous, before the akumas had even shown up in Paris and she’d gotten her earrings, saving her life and stealing her heart. 

It had been a rainy night, and she had been taking a delivery order for her parents. Maybe it was too late for her to be out; but Tom and Sabine were so stressed lately. It was the least she could do to take a load off of them. She certainly hadn’t expected to stare down the barrel of a gun, and the shaking hand behind it. 

“Drop your bags,” they’d said. Mari’s vision had started to tilt, and her throat tightened up. Of all the times she had to panic, did it really have to be now?

The person behind the gun—it looked like a man, sounded like a man, but she couldn’t be sure, everything was moving so fast. She could see his fingers tighten around the grip of the handle, and move towards the trigger. “I-I said, bags!” 

She fell to her knees, and let the bags fall loose on the ground. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so—“

“I don’t give a shit if you’re sorry, kid. I asked for your money. Hand it over before I--” he fumbled and clicked the safety off. “I’ll start shooting!” The guy kicked her bags aside, keeping the gun pointed at her. 

She didn’t have anything on her. “I don’t have—“

A shadow dropped in between them at that moment, startling Marinette and the robber. She froze in place, at the sight of a new figure in the alleyway. She thought her heart would stop just with the fright he’d given her. 

He was tall, broad shouldered, with golden locks and a bright, green eyed smile. He politely held a hand out to Marinette, bending down to pull her up and away from the assailant. “Why hello there, miss, it seems you dropped your bags. Do you need any help carrying them? They look awfully heavy.”

She blushed. He was so  _ charming  _ for such a devilishly handsome looking guy. And even though his face was covered by a black mask, his teeth were a brilliant white and the rest of him was gorgeous. 

“Thanks,” she managed quietly, “but...are you going to be okay?”

“Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “I’ll take care of this one. He doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing. I won’t hurt him, I think he’s just in a tight spot and needs a bit of help.”

He grabbed the gun with his free hand, still holding one of Mari’s tightly in his own, and called out, “Cataclysm!”

In his grip, the gun disintegrated. The robber dropped it in shock before the remaining dust could even touch his fingers. 

“I don’t like guns,” the blond boy said apologetically, with a smirk and a teasing shrug of his shoulders. 

“Who are you?” The man asked in fear. 

“No need to be so scared,” he said teasingly. Still, he seemed genuine. He’d made no move to hurt the man. “I’m a hero, after all. You can call me Chat Noir.”

“Chat,” Marinette muttered, noticing his cat ears and the little belt tail he wore. “Cute,” she said under her breath. 

“Well I’m glad you think so,  _ purr _ incess,” he said, and winked. A critical hit. Mari could feel her heart pulse loudly in response. “Now, let me take you home. I’ll clean up this mess for you, don’t worry.”

“Are you serious?” The robber said. “You think I’m going to just let you—“

He grabbed a wire from behind his back and wrapped up the man in a matter of seconds. “Cat trap,” he said with a grin. 

“You’re good at this,” Marinette commented, feeling particularly useless standing there with her bags strewn beside her. 

“Well, you’ve been a wonderful audience.” He said. “I don’t get half this much praise from anyone else I’ve saved.” He launched her up in a princess carry, and pulled out a silver baton from his side. “Hold on tight, princess. We’re going really high, really fast.”

She gripped his neck and yelped as they launched up towards the rooftops of Paris. 

“Oh, yeah, could you maybe direct me back to your house? I don’t exactly have my bearings here.”

She tried to speak through her panting breaths and pounding heart rate. “Dupain-Chang bakery...I live...upstairs…”

“Oh I love that place!” He said excitedly. “Might I get a pastry in compensation?” She tried to nod her head (although it was spinning a bit) but he laughed. “Don’t worry, I don’t do this job for the rewards. Just saving princesses like you is enough for me.”

She flushed a bright red, and tried not to miss the feeling of his arms against her back when he dropped her off on the bakery’s rooftop. 

“I must bid you adieu, miss. I have a scoundrel to take care of.” He bowed, and she nodded and raised a hand to wave him off. 

As soon as he’d disappeared again, she fell to her knees again, this time overwhelmed in a completely different way. Her whole body felt numb, her nerves tingling and cheeks still warm even against the cold night’s breeze. She hesitantly touched her shoulders which still held some warmth from his arms, and at that very moment, she knew she was a goner. 

= = =

Several months later and it only got worse every day. You’d think getting to know him so intimately would have tampered down her crush; instead, she thought over every interaction ten times more, found new ways to daydream about him, and idolized his hero status. All while remaining cool and calm in front of the guy she adored. 

“My Lady,” Chat called smugly from the rooftop. “I missed you so dearly since our last pawtrol...how could you be so late and make your dear kitty wait?”

She rolled her eyes, but her heart pounded at his cute little referral as ‘her kitty’. His puns were stupidly cute sometimes. “Well, a bug has to be here and there,” she said casually. “Besides, don’t you have better things to do than go around rooftops late at night, and flirt with girls?”

“Nothing more important than you, My Lady,” he said, and she sighed in exasperation. 

She didn’t have to fake it that time. Marinette knew that Chat Noir was a flirtatious creature by nature. He’d called her princess as Marinette, then made up a brand new endearment to use on his partner the moment he saw her. And since that was the case, he’d probably made a move on half the girls (and maybe the men as well) he’d saved. It stung, a little, to think about her partner going around and using those little one liners on every girl he met. 

Marinette was a possessive person, but she wasn’t exactly straightforward enough that she could ever even convey those feelings. She turned away from Chat to hide the disappointment in her expression. These feelings of jealousy were her own fault. It wasn’t Chat’s responsibility to pick up on everything and to hold back on her account.

And, god forbid, he’d be terrified if he knew the extent of her infatuation with him. It was better to keep a safe, albeit cold, working distance. At least, until she could wait to get back to her room and clutch the Chat Noir body pillow that was waiting for her on the chais. 

Chat liked cool, calm, collected Ladybug. He didn’t like Marinette the fangirl. It was better if she just tampered down the whole “maiden in love” thing.

“Let’s get moving then, Kitty,” she said, and swung off towards the Eiffel Tower. 

= = =

“Nino, don’t wake them up!” Alya hissed. “They look almost cute like this.” Nino laughed, and Alya continued taking photos of her two friends slumped against one another at their seats. 

“Mari is gonna kill you when she gets up.” Nino said, but still looked amused nonetheless. 

“Oh, relax, would you?” Alya said. “It’s not like they  _ hate  _ each other. They just...don’t see eye to eye on some things.”

Nino deadpanned. “Mari literally threatened to burn Adrien’s backpack if he bad mouthed Chat Noir again.”

“That was ages ago!!”

“Last week…?”

“And it’s in the past now, right? Besides, they’ve both got the fan thing going on. Just because Mari doesn’t exactly spare her testimonials on Ladybug…”

Nino sighed. “Honestly, you would think they’d get along better. But it turns out being super fans of Chat Noir and Ladybug have just made them hypercritical of the other.”

Alya grinned. “And maybe, if they were a little closer, they could resolve their differences and find a middle ground?”

“I thought journalists weren’t supposed to be naive.”

“I’m optimistic.”

“Blindly.” Nino smiled. “Seriously, though, let’s pull these two apart before they—“

“Before they wake up?” Adrien said, eyes tired but burning with rage. “You didn’t think that would be convenient before I was cozied up to my mortal enemy?”

“Pfft,” Mari said, swallowing down a yawn. “Don’t flatter yourself. You think we’re mortal enemies? You’re just a crumb on the bottom of my shoe.”

“Just because you don’t have good taste in superheroes doesn’t mean—“

“G _ uys.”  _ Alya pleaded. “Can you go back to sleep? It was a brief moment of quiet but I’d like it back please.”

“For you, Alya,” Mari said. “But only because you helped me get that poster this weekend. Hey, Adrien, do you remember that life sized Ladybug poster with her custom perfume…? Oh wait, that was a Chat Noir exclusive. My bad!”

He growled. “Don’t even act like Chat has better merch than Ladybug. If you look at clothing lines alone…”

“It wasn’t even two seconds that time,” Alya muttered, letting them go off at one another. 

Adrien and Marinette were a weird pair, for sure. They were both obsessed with (read: in love with) Paris’s superheroes. But somehow, upon meeting each other, it had turned into a fight of “who’s the better hero”. Marinette had been refuting someone's point against Chat, talking about how Ladybug was “obviously overrated” and the shy new kid Adrien just lost it, going off on her completely. The two had almost gotten physical until Mme. Bustier walked in and announced the start of class. 

It was the end of their first fight, but the beginning of a harsh rivalry that hadn’t burned any dimmer over the past few months. 

Nino and Alya were a strange contribution to their dynamic. Once they started dating, their respective best friends had to “publicly tolerate” one another, and group outings became regular. They still claimed to despise one another, but Alya knew better. 

After all, Marinette seemed to have a thing for blondes. 

Nino seemed to think the same. They’d been subtly trying to pair them up together, but it was hard to convince them to actually talk and get to know one another when they constantly had digs against Ladybug and Chat Noir to bring up. 

“Besides,” Nino had confessed to her, secretly. “Whenever Mari talks about Chats  _ appeal,  _ Adrien totally gets all flustered and stuff. I mean, it’s obvious she has a thing for tall blond guys and green eyes.”

“Him too?” She groaned. “Marinette looked like she was gonna explode the other day when Adrien talked about how cute pigtails were.”

“It’s like they don’t understand they’re totally each other’s types.” Nino complained. 

And so they’d worked to push them together, only for their bitter rivalry to evolve into a begrudging enemyship. It was too hard to actually make it happen, but it was fun to tease the two of them, at least. 

It was still to be seen if it would get them anywhere, though.

= = =

Chloe Bourgeois was one of the few people Marinette  _ really  _ couldn’t stand. She was famous for keeping her temper cool, but this situation would not slide for her.

She was a Chat Noir fan. Obviously she was used to the discourse, how people constantly compared her and Chat to one another (often making some insulting claims), but hearing it out loud was so much worse. At least Adrien tried to keep his tone civil. But Chloe was…

“I’d obviously be a  _ much  _ better partner for her, even without a catsuit.” She huffed pretentiously.

“Oh, really?” Marinette drawled. “So humble of you to offer your services to Paris.” It was taking everything in her not to scream at her (or show her the latest fight’s screencaps of Chat, which were so beautiful it was a sin not to share them).

“Anyways, he’s always running around and getting in her way. If it were me, I wouldn’t be such a dead weight on Paris’s savior.”

Adrien stiffened a bit in front of her, she noticed. It was strange...he’d made similar claims, but whenever he heard someone insulting Chat Noir he seemed to tense up a bit. She smiled. Maybe he was a secret fan, after all.

“Chloe, if you continue, I can’t guarantee your safety.” Alya warned her. 

“Not necessary,” Mari said. “Useless people can’t recognize actual talent when they see it. I mean, Chat Noir basically carries Ladybug around. She’s forgetful, and doesn’t notice her surroundings, and she has no  _ idea  _ how to even talk to an akuma--”

“That’s not true!” Adrien turned around, his eyes wide.

“--And,” she continued, unfazed. “Ladybug would be dead without Chat Noir. Every single villain they’ve faced, he’s stepped in right at the critical moment. If you really liked Ladybug, I feel like you might have a bit more respect for the guy that saves her butt every week.”

Chloe looked pissed at that. “It’s just dumb luck.”

“Luck?” She laughed. “If anything, Ladybug’s the lucky one. She’s got such a wonderful cat looking out for her.” Mari went warm at the thought, limbs going gooey at the memory of Chat saving her. Every time it happened, she wanted to collapse into a puddle and simultaneously launch herself into his arms.

Adrien looked like he was going a little warm too. “Chat Noir is plenty lucky,” he said. “But...you made some good points.”

“Huh?” Chloe screeched. “Adrikins, you’re taking  _ her side _ ? What is this?”

Alya coughed a laugh into her fist. “Seriously, you three take this stuff  _ way  _ too seriously.”

Nino turned to roll his eyes at her. “You literally run the Ladyblog. You of all people have no room to talk.” 

Adrien whined. “Yeah, Alya, you run the Lady blog. How come you don’t take her side more in all this?”

She laughed. “If I do, I’ve broken my end of the deal and Mari can post her ‘Chatblog’ content on my main site.” She scratched her head. “Although, thinking about it, she could probably pull a lot of views from that...but is it too much rebranding?”

“Alya,” Mari’s eyes sparkled. “Would you really…?”

“Don’t encourage it,” Adrien chided her. Alya nodded.

“If she got a platform, she’d be unstoppable.”

“On second thought,” Mari said seriously. “I can’t always share all of the pictures of Chat Noir I’ve gotten. Some art is meant to be appreciated privately.”

Adrien looked red. “You’re seriously that obsessed with him?”

“She’s a maiden in love,” Alya said, laughing at his expression. And she didn’t deny it. “I’m not sure there’s anyone in Paris who knows Chat Noir better than Mari, not even Ladybug herself at this point.”

Marinette cackled at that. “Who knows, maybe she’s secretly a fan of his too?”

Adrien had to put his head down on his desk for a few minutes after that one to cool off.

= = =

Mari opened her laptop to fifteen missed notifications on her Chat fan blog on Tumblr. It had gotten pretty big as of late. Chat had recently stuck his back out to save a bunch of kids on a field trip at the Louvre, and it had increased his appeal tenfold. And she could never miss out on an opportunity to let other people appreciate such a specimen of a man.

Her asks were always active, but recently, she’d been messaging back and forth with a Ladybug fanblog that insisted on debating which of the pair was better. She hid a smile behind her hand, remembering how Adrien had conceded today for the first time.

Sure, she claimed to be Adrien’s “mortal enemy”, but he wasn’t half bad. It was rough in the beginning though, what with his insistence that “Ladybug was obviously superior” and on top of that, being so close with Chloe, Mari had written him off as an asshole.

She took a look at her inbox, and smiled even wider.

>>> I’m going to have to ask you to reconsider your bio

>>> I think I know someone who is Chat Noir’s ACTUAL #1 fan today

>>> For legal reasons, you can’t make the claim for that position anymore

It was funny to think that someone else was even close to her level of fangirling. But whoever they were, they didn’t get to hang out with him twice a week on patrols, or skip class to fight akumas together (not that they had much of a choice, but still. That was her role exclusively.)

_ >>> Doubtful. Almost as likely as Ladybug surpassing Chat Noir in the Hero Awards this year _

_ >>> Even though they are rigged by the way _

_ >>> Just putting that out there _

She closed her laptop, deciding to start her homework later, and pulled Tikki out of her bag. “Ah, you probably want a snack around now, right?”

“Sure, Marinette.” She grinned. “You and Adrien have been getting along pretty well, huh?”

“What?” She asked. “No way, I’m just getting closer to converting him to a Chat Noir fan. Alya and Nino are pushing way too hard for us to even be friends.”

“Are you sure you’re not just making excuses?” Tikki said. “You seem to get more passionate around him than anyone. It’s okay to have a little rivalry here and there, but you might be better friends than you’d think.”

She laughed. “Maybe. But there’s no way I’m going to suck up to him, at least not until he’s admitted defeat and sung Chat Noir’s praises.”

Tikki glared. “You really are nothing but a fangirl after all, huh. Maybe tell Chat next time what you’re thinking?”

Mari turned red and dove into her pillow. “No way. He’d never look at me the same way.”

Tikki muttered something about how that “might be a good thing” but Marinette couldn’t even pay it any mind.  _ Telling Chat Noir...no way.  _

**Author's Note:**

> I've already got three chapters written so I won't procrastinate on this I swear (but also school is kicking my ass rn so no promises)
> 
> Follow me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/graceisstupid) if you want


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